


Glow Stick of Destiny

by babyblueglasses



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Apologies, Caretaking, Crossover, Drunk Sex, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Lost Love, M/M, Other, Pet Names, Possession, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Loki (Marvel), Venom AU, maybe vague manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-24 06:40:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16634912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babyblueglasses/pseuds/babyblueglasses
Summary: Tony bonds with a symbiote named Loki and things go well until they don't.aka the frostiron Venom AU you didn't know you needed.





	Glow Stick of Destiny

Tony didn’t remember how it happened.

The thing about pulling all nighters and living on nothing but caffeine and booze was that memory loss was a very real thing. So were shit fine motor skills. When Tony couldn’t use his hands to work anymore he just went straight to designing at his computer, having Jarvis help when he needed it, which was often if not constantly.

Of course, Tony didn’t heed a single sign to go to sleep. Nothing could make Tony lay in his bed, helpless against the nightmares that undoubtedly found him. He hadn’t been in his bed in months. He slept on the couch in the lab if he made it to the couch at all. Usually he just woke up from where he’d passed out on his work desk.

So he didn’t remember how it happened.

He didn’t remember if it came from the alien artifacts that Thor had given him to mess around with (been badgered into giving him, really). He didn’t remember if it came from the box that Shield had asked him to investigate (boring, that thing). It could’ve walked in the front door for all that Tony knew.

However it happened, Tony woke one morning to another voice in his head.

_You’re really not going to be useful if you’re hungover and sleep deprived all the time. When did you last eat? I can only find a memory from three days ago, but that doesn’t seem right—_

Tony fell out of his bed, tangled in the sheets in his panic. His bed. Why the fuck had he been in his bed?

Tony scrambled to get up, peering over the mattress with bedhead and bloodshot eyes for whoever he’d slept with because wow, his instincts had been terrible, there was no way they were hot enough for whatever this was—Tony felt a shiver down his spine at the same time that he sensed the voice’s amusement and saw the empty bed.

_As I was saying, I can only find a memory from three days ago, but yours are so scattered that I can hardly—_

“—Jarv. Jarvis!”

“Sir.” Instant relief rushed through Tony at the familiar voice. Jarvis was here. He wasn’t alone.

Tony brushed the sweat away from his forehead. “Full body scan. Uh, check my vitals, I’m—I’m hearing a voice—”

 _—Loki,_  the voice supplied.

“Sir, may I suggest that you sit back down—”

“—What did you just say?” The room was starting to spin.

Tony felt his limbs move on their own, gently setting him on the bed. It would’ve been terrifying if it hadn’t been so utterly confusing. “Sir, if I may—”

_You touched my scepter—_

“I touched your _what_ —”

Jarvis interrupted with a video.

In it Tony was opening up one of the crates from Shield and picking up a golden scepter.

Tony talked to it for a bit before a dark green mass that moved like liquid sprung from the scepter and enveloped him. Then he set the scepter down and went back to work, smiling to himself. The video ended.

Tony licked his lips, mouth suddenly very dry. “Jarv—enhance audio.”

“Sounds like fun,” Tony from last night said. “I’m in.” That was all there was.

Tony didn’t know what to say. It was him in the video, and considering the empty fifth on his desk, Tony didn’t find it hard to believe that he’d forgotten the incident.

 _So now that we’re on the same page,_ the voice drawled, Tony flinching as he felt something move inside his mind. _Am I wrong to assume that you need to eat?_

Probably. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten a decent meal—Tony let out a startled shout as he started to rise from the bed. “Hey! Hey, you can’t just move me, I haven’t even figured out what the hell you are yet—”

 _I am Loki._ The voice was both smug and irritated as it said that, urging Tony towards his bedroom door.

“Okay, but what does that _mean_ —”

_Your blood sugar is disconcertingly low. Now are you going to fight me or let me move you?_

Tony was too baffled to respond. The voice—Loki, right, Loki—did indeed move him not just to the door, but down to the kitchen where he watched himself begin making a perfect omelette. Loki had shifted towards bright, happy amusement as Tony watched. It was bizarre to simply feel what Loki felt right beside his own feelings.

Tony wasn't sure how to react, let alone think about the situation. The butter coating the pan bubbled and evaporated, the scent filling the air and causing Tony's stomach to rumble. “I’ve never not burned an omelette before,” Tony observed.

_Fortunately I can’t say that for my other hosts._

“Hosts.”

 _Mmm._ , Loki responded as Tony blended spices from his cabinet in ways he’d never thought of. _You were quite enthusiastic about becoming my host last night._

“Most guys are when they’re trying to touch another guy’s scepter,” Tony quipped.

He felt Loki’s pleasure at his words as if it was his own. _I quite like you._

“Is that why you’re making me breakfast? Well. I’m making me breakfast, but you’re making me, so, you know.”

Loki was quiet for a moment. _Please eat._

Tony realized that he was standing at the table now with a plate in hand. This time he chose to sit down in the chair and bewilderingly, take a bite from the omelette. He couldn’t remember the last time that food had been appetizing, but now it suddenly was.

Tony finished the omelette embarrassingly fast. _Do you want more?_ Loki hopefully prodded.

“I guess. But—” Loki was already moving them for Tony. “Yeah. Thanks.” He would've been hopeless making another one on his own, and Loki's omelette had been pretty damn good.

A sense of satisfaction burned in Tony for a moment. He watched himself assemble another omelette with growing curiosity. It was strange, but not bad-strange. Just unusual. Hell, after everything Tony had seen, he wasn’t sure that this even topped the list.

And he was pretty sure that most of the weird stuff that happened to him had never made him breakfast.

Tony had eaten the second omelette before he asked. “So how’s this whole host thing work, Loki?”

Tony wasn’t sure if the curiosity he felt just then was Loki’s or his own.

_I need a symbiotic relationship for survival. You are my host. It is that simple._

“So what were you doing in that scepter?”

The sensation that rocketed through Tony was unbearable, a mixture of intense pain and consuming anger. When they’d calmed down, Tony didn’t want to ask anymore. Instead they just sat there in silence. _Would you like another?_

“No. I can’t eat anymore—”

 _—Then we’re taking a shower,_ Loki curtly interrupted, dragging Tony out of the kitchen without another word.

 

Tony adjusted to having Loki in his head remarkably well. Aside from his insistence on meals, Loki left Tony in peace as he worked in the lab, which was great because Tony’s mind was on fire. He figured that it was the sleep and food, but he was coming up with better ideas than he had in years, and his ideas had always been great. They were just supercharged now, and Tony couldn’t keep up with all of them.

Tony wasn’t even upset when Loki prodded him to go to sleep that night. He babbled to Loki about everything he’d been creating that day, completely unaware of where Loki was taking them until he was standing a foot from his bed.

Tony lurched, barely catching his balance as he stopped them. “No.”

_No?_

“I’m not sleeping there.”

 _Why?_ There was a flicker of amusement. _Where else would you sleep?_

"I—" Tony took two steps away from the bed.

_Why?_

Tony didn't want to admit to Loki that he was scared of the nightmares that would come. Loki had been in his head for less than a day, and already Tony liked the guy. Symbiote. Whatever. Point was, he wanted to be cool for him.

Tony waited as he felt Loki in the back of his mind like a fog. It was a new sensation. "What're you doing?"

_I'm looking to see what it is that you can't tell me._

"Hey! That's private!"

 _But it's hurting you,_ Loki said distantly, the statement spoken as if it was absolutely logical. Tony didn't have time to debate him further because he sensed Loki's attention returning to him as he found the memories.

Tony shuffled his feet nervously, suddenly self-conscious of what Loki would say.

A warm sensation wrapped around Tony's hands, as if someone was holding them. They were lifted towards the bed, but there was no accompanying tug. _Come to bed, Tony. You’ll be alright. You won’t have those dreams tonight._

Tony shook his head. The sensation appeared on his waist, as if a warm hand was holding him there too. _I’m here this time, Tony. Please try for me. You need to sleep. Your body needs rest._

Loki could’ve pulled Tony into the bed, but he didn’t. He was patient as Tony stood there, wrestling with the overwhelming urge to bolt. “You—you swear,” Tony gritted out.

The warm sensation enveloped Tony. _Yes, my love._

Tony didn’t flinch at the _my love_. Didn’t even question it.

_I will watch over you as you sleep. Now come to bed, darling._

Ordinarily, Tony would’ve snorted at being talked to that way, but now it had the knot in his stomach coming undone. Loki was promising him that it would be alright. Tony took one stumbling step towards the bed, then another, his heart pounding as he crawled onto the mattress and laid down in the middle. _You did so well, dearest._

“Shut up,” Tony muttered with embarrassment, grabbing the covers and yanking them up with a tight fist.

He felt the phantom sensation of fingernails ghost along the side of his head. _I am here, my love._

Tony tugged the blankets up over his head, rolling onto his side and opening a small spot to breathe. The sense of dread was nauseating. “I like you better when you’re being a smart ass,” Tony complained.

A phantom hand set against the small of his back. _You like me like this too. Don’t lie, darling._

Tony felt Loki’s amusement at how he flustered at darling.

“I’m trying to sleep,” Tony insisted, rearranging the blankets. He felt a new pressure against his back, along with an arm wrapping around his middle. He felt for it, but there was nothing there. “How are you doing that? Making me feel things?”

Loki seemed reluctant to answer, but Tony didn’t have to ask again. _I draw on memories that you already have._

“You were solid when you came out of that scepter though.” There was no response. It seemed like Loki was waiting for something. “Could you do it again?”

Tony felt a very real tendril curl around his wrist and settle in the palm of his hand. “That’s incredible,” Tony said. The liquid expanded, morphing around Tony’s hand but not wet, just very…alive. “Jarvis, please tell me you’re scanning this.”

A sense of pride sparked from the place in Tony’s mind where Loki had taken up residence. “Of course, sir.”

“What else can you do?” Tony asked.

 _I can take a physical form,_ Loki answered.

“I want to see.”

The tendril drew back from Tony’s hand for a moment before he felt a twinge of apprehension and realized that Loki had just figured out what he was doing. If Loki was angry, he hid it well, but the tendril vanished completely. _I did not lie to you, Tony. You will not have those dreams tonight._

“Yeah, well. Hearing that and it happening are two totally different things.” Tony rolled over, realizing that the phantom warmth sensations were gone. “And I do want to see what you look like—”

_—Please go to sleep, Tony. Enough distractions._

Tony was quiet for a moment. Maybe it was just because he was in the bed, but a shiver rattled him. Despite the dark circles under his eyes and the exhaustion he’d not managed to kick, Tony couldn’t do it. “I can’t,” he said, starting to sit up.

_Lay down, darling. For me. Please._

Tony shivered again. He wanted to make Loki happy, he really, really did. “But—”

_—If you have those dreams, how would you like me to make it up to you? Name anything, love._

“Let me see what you look like?”

_Of course._

Tony hesitantly lowered himself back down into the sheets. The warmth returned around him.

Tony had to admit that he did feel safe wrapped in the warmth. “Loki?”

_Yes?_

“Just checking.” The warmth got stronger. Tony smiled to himself, unsure of why he wanted to cry suddenly. He hadn’t been able to touch his bed, let alone lay down in it to sleep in months.

He wanted to ask Loki more questions, but his exhaustion was getting stronger now that he was comfortable. “‘night.”

 _Good night, Tony._ Loki’s voice was distant.

Tony woke up in the morning more well rested than he’d been in ages. It was a moment before he remembered the day before. “Loki?”

_Did you sleep well?_

“Yeah.”

_No nightmares?_

“…No.” Tony’s mind was flooded with a sense of Loki’s smugness. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. So. Time to get up,” Tony decided, stretching as he dragged himself out of bed.

Tony fell into a comfortable pattern with Loki after that. He’d work in the lab. Somedays Loki would assist him and watch, other days he was just there, in the back of Tony’s mind like he was taking a nap. He was wonderful to snark with. Sometimes Tony would grab his attention just to have his company. Loki was insistent on eating and Tony started indulging him with chocolates, going so far as to let Loki do the grocery ordering through Jarvis. Loki showered him with darlings whenever he was content, and Stark when Tony wasn’t fast enough to eat or take a nap. He did nap though, and if Tony found himself looking forward to going to his bed now just to feel Loki’s warmth around him, he didn’t have to tell.

 

After a few weeks, on a day after Tony had been sweet talked with a few extra darlings into buying Loki a six foot chocolate bar at the store, Tony realized with absolute clarity how much better he was, and how grateful he was to Loki for that. “I love you,” Tony had said abruptly and emphatically, trying to hold Loki’s presence close to his in his mind.

 _And I love you,_ Loki said earnestly before amusement crept up. _You were rather slow at grasping that._

“Shove it,” Tony had answered, fighting off a sloppy smile.

He went back to work, enjoying how Loki’s affection sang in his mind.

Of course, as Tony found himself feeling better, he found himself willing to go out and rub elbows at the next big Stark Industries event. Loki didn’t get too worked up over the first couple drinks that Tony had, even though he’d seriously curbed his drinking at home. Tony wasn’t sure when Loki went from indulging him to being outright irked with him, but Tony was wasted when he brought a woman back home and into his bed with him.

Loki had been sulking in the back of his mind and ignoring him since his fifth? eighth? drink, but as Tony stumbled towards the bed he felt Loki’s presence rush back in. _Tony? Tony, what are you—Tony?! Who is this?_

“Fuck off,” Tony slurred. “I’m allowed to have some fun.”

“What?” The woman asked, as plastered as he was.

“Nothing,” Tony said.

 _Tony! Tony, if you—_ Loki warned, panicking.

“Never said I couldn’t,” Tony muttered against the woman’s skin, sucking a dark mark as Loki’s livid, panicked presence went cold. Loki didn’t surface again that night, and Tony just assumed he was being given some privacy.

Tony woke up with a pounding headache and a cold sweat. The woman from the night before was getting dressed at the foot of the bed. She looked at Tony over her shoulder. “Don’t tell my kids or my husband about this,” she informed him.

“I barely remember it,” Tony said distantly, distracted. Where was Loki?

The woman laughed. “Thank god.” She tied her hair back into a ponytail. “Honestly, I don’t remember anything past getting in bed. I hope it was good.” She tugged the ponytail to be tighter. "I do remember the first few shots I had, though. This hangover is going to last into next week." She stood up, straightening out the wrinkles in her clothes. “Alright. Well. See you again never.” It wasn’t unfriendly at all.

“Yeah,” Tony said, definitely alarmed now. He couldn’t feel Loki. “Show yourself out?”

“Sure.” She paused for a moment, then smiled at Tony. “Bye.” It was a definitive good bye, and Tony might’ve been relieved that she clearly didn’t want to stick around if he wasn’t waiting for her to get out the door so that he could call to Loki. The woman stared at him for a moment longer, her expression suddenly odd like she'd just realized she'd slept with a celebrity, before she simply turned and walked out the door.

The moment she was gone Tony called for him. “I know you’re in my head, come out, please. Please? I’ll give you some of those hazelnut chocolates that you love—Come on you asshole, please—” There was a void in his head where Loki was supposed to be. Tony felt naked without him. Wrong all over. Burning hot tears rolled down Tony’s cheeks as his pleading failed. “Jarv? Is Loki, is he in his scepter?”

“No, sir.”

“Where is he then?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know.”

The rest of the day passed in a blur.

Tony didn’t even have the reprieve of his lab. The ideas weren’t coming anymore. Tony spiraled fast without Loki there to guide him. He tried telling himself that it was alright, everyone leaves. Loki had never been obligated to stay. But he was a symbiote, wasn’t he? He couldn’t live without a host.

So Tony began searching.

During the day he’d follow leads that went nowhere, researching symbiotes and trying to figure out where Loki had come from with the scepter.

At night he’d crawl back into his bed and imagine Loki’s warmth around him. The memory was frayed and fading, though. Tony tried to force it, clutching his pillow and replaying it until he passed out or the sun came up.

Loki didn’t return, but the nightmares did.

Tony started sleeping in the lab again, when he slept at all.

He realized now though that he wasn’t functional. He couldn’t go back to his old life, not after Loki. And if Loki wasn’t going to return and replace the hole in his chest, then Tony’d have to fill it another way.

It took a while, but Tony found himself following a man called the Collector and a promise of a new symbiote with the scepter in one hand.

The Collector stopped in front of a small glass cage with a rabbit inside. Tony clutched the scepter to his chest, heart thumping wildly as the Collector opened the latch. He stepped back, allowing a mass of black goo to erupt from the rabbit.

Tony wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement making his heart pound, but as the symbiote enveloped him, Tony waited for a sense of peace to come crashing in. “The scepter.”

“Right,” Tony said, handing it over.

He could feel the new symbiote in his mind, quiet and meek with the thumping heart of the rabbit. He hurried to leave the Collector’s unnerving presence, eager to get back home.

 

The symbiote didn’t give Tony its name. It stayed in the rabbit-like state in the back of his mind, cornered off and afraid.

Still, at least something was there, even if it wasn’t Loki. After the hole that Loki had left, having anything there at all felt worlds better.

Still though, the new symbiote wasn’t enough. Tony needed something to fill the emotional void that Loki had left too. So Tony went out to a gala again. This time he got drunk without any pestering from his new symbiote. As he was looking for someone to take home, he spotted the woman from before.

Instantly, Tony broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing her was like experiencing the shock of losing Loki all over again. Stumbling, Tony bolted for the first hallway he found, unable to remember where the exit was, already in a full on state of panic.

He tripped as he rushed down the hallway, his head spinning as his world turned upside down and he hit the floor. He wanted to vomit. “Need a hand up?” Tony blinked as a cool hand slid into his.

And suddenly the symbiote in his head was shrieking.

Tony squinted through the pain, recognizing the woman from before. He pinned his back against the wall, tugging away from her, unsure whether it was the symbiote’s fear or his own shrieking louder.

“I thought you’d be pleased to see me, Stark.” She pressed one hand to the wall beside his head, leaning in closer. Then Tony understood. It was Loki looking at him through her eyes. And she was livid.

“Loki?” Tony couldn’t help how heartbroken he sounded. After how badly he’d missed Loki, he could do nothing but let his heart crack wide open.

“And who is this?” Loki hissed as the shrieking in Tony’s head got louder. “Get out.” The symbiote in Tony’s head shot into the air, latching onto the closest passerby that had been very set on ignoring the scene they were making. “How dare you—”

“—You were gone!” Tony exclaimed, only realizing then that he’d been crying tears of pain while the symbiote had been in agony.

“You were mine,” Loki snapped, just inches from Tony’s face. Tony blinked, vision obscured and watery. “And you brought her into our bed.”

“Why’re you wearing her?” Tony exclaimed.

Her breath drifted against Tony’s cheek. Loki seemed too livid to answer at first. Licking her lips, she took an unsteady breath. “I needed another host.” She set a hand on his shoulder. “You broke our deal.”

Tony couldn’t hold an argument with him. Not after he’d missed him so desperately, and definitely not now that Loki was right in front of him. “I don’t remember what I said for our deal. I miss you. Just come back please. Please. Okay? I looked everywhere for you—”

“—You did?”

“Yes!”

The woman cocked her head to the side, studying him.

“Please just, you can read my mind, right? See that I’m telling the truth.” Tony didn’t see the green matter envelop him.

He just knew from the moment that he felt Loki back in his head that everything was right in the world. _That thing has been in here,_ Loki grumbled, wandering through Tony’s mind and stretching out.

“It’s been scared shitless,” Tony breathed out.

_Because it knew I’d been here._

Tony heard a startled yelp and blinked to see the woman from before coming to again. “I drank way too fucking much,” she muttered. “We’re not doing this again.”

“No, we aren’t,” Tony said breathlessly. She looked at him with something like pity before leaving him sitting against the wall, tears still streaming down his cheeks. They were of relief now though. “Don’t go again,” Tony mumbled.

 _Where did you find that thing?_ Loki growled, still prowling around Tony’s head like an angry dog.

“I traded the Collector your scepter for it.”

 _You traded the scepter?_ For some reason that amused Loki.

“Yeah. I guess somebody else wanted to touch your scepter.” 

Loki was quiet for a second. _Only you get to touch my scepter, Tony._

Tony broke into a laugh that hurt his chest. He was so glad to have Loki back. “You ever going to let me touch you for real then?”

 _No._ Loki paused for a moment, and Tony realized that he was feeling concern. _Maybe if you are very, very good._

“I missed you.”

 _I know._ Loki didn’t say it, but Tony could feel how much Loki had missed him, how it’d been impossible to see Tony without desperately wanting to talk to him, even if it was in anger. _We need a shower,_ Loki said with distaste.

“I smell fine.”

 _You smell like bourbon and sweat._ Loki brought Tony to a standing position. _And you haven’t eaten well. What am I going to do with you, darling?_ Tony knew he was being made fun of with the pet name this time, but he didn’t care.

“Let’s go home,” Tony said.

_As you wish._

It was only when they were home and Tony had fully showered, and yes, eaten something that wasn’t just a prepackaged carb that he sat down on the couch. He knew they couldn’t just go back to the way they’d been before, not without talking. His sudden meekness and uncertainty caught Loki’s curiosity, drawing him away from whatever territorial thing he’d been doing in the back of Tony’s mind to stomp out the last of the other symbiote’s presence.

“I’m sorry.” Tony set his hands in his lap, kneading them in a nervous tick that he hadn’t had before. “I said I loved you but uh, I didn’t really define what that meant. I didn’t think sleeping with someone was off limits, because you’re not—” It felt wrong to say human, so Tony tried again. “We can’t touch like that. But looking back now I can see how you might’ve felt.”

 _You were drunk,_ Loki said very quietly, maybe to excuse Tony.

“No, that doesn’t matter. I still did it.”

Loki was quiet and difficult to feel, so Tony didn’t pester him as he tried to work out what he wanted to say himself.

_I could have spoken to you about it, Tony. I should not have left, but you were the first host that—loved me—and I was so very angry with you._

“I get it.” Tony really could not figure out where this hand wringing thing had come from, but now he couldn’t stop doing it. “Maybe we could talk about what we want and figure things out before we go telenovela next time?”

_I do not want you to bring others in our bed, Tony._

Tony ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know if I can do the whole celibate lifestyle thing forever. I guess I could try,” Tony conceded. He really wasn’t sure. “But—”

 _—Let me take care of it._ Loki insisted. _I can._

Tony was a little skeptical. “Does that mean you’ll let me see your physical form?”

Loki withdrew, back to the farthest corners of Tony’s mind without shutting him out completely. _You will think me a monster._

“Loki,” Tony chided. “You’ve seen my memories. You know just how much I missed you, and I’ve already let you live inside my brain, so if you can come up with something that fazes me I’m going to be seriously impressed.”

Tony waited. There was no response. “So if that’s off the table, then—”

 _—I want to,_ Loki interrupted, suddenly at the front of his mind. _Just—not today, love. Not when I have been angry with you._

“No, right. Okay. I didn't mean like right now.” They needed a day or two to cool off and get back to their usual rhythm, Tony got that. 

_And you cannot belong to another of my kind again._

"Yeah, that was kind of a desperate measure to fix the problem."

 _I know,_ Loki said, almost abashed. Tony could feel his affection and pride too at the sentiment, and if Tony'd been in a different mood he would've rolled his eyes. Loki asked his next question with uncharacteristic hesitancy. _Tony...still...loves us?_

"Yes!" Tony rubbed his head. "I thought that'd be obvious—" Tony stopped himself. He could feel how utterly happy saying yes had made Loki, and he didn't want that feeling to stop. 

“So. Uh. Anything else?”

 _No._ Tony nodded. He wasn’t sure what else he had to add either. _When there is something new, we can promise to discuss it?_

“Yeah. That sounds good.” Tony was cautiously happy. “You’ll—as long as we—you’ll—you’ll stay, right? You won’t leave again?”

Tony felt that warmth that usually lulled him to sleep surrounded him, the impact of it after missing it so dearly overwhelming him. _I will not leave you, Tony._ The warmth intensified for a moment. _I will not leave in anger again. I—regretted losing you. I did not speak to my last host. I did not want to know her as I knew you—she was already so loved. Her family—_ Loki stopped communicating, but Tony could feel the stabbing pain of watching another be loved and wishing for the same.

 _We stay together_ Loki said emphatically, promising Tony.

“Okay,” Tony breathed out. “Okay.”

Tony sat there, mind empty for once as he just adjusted to feeling relieved and whole again. Loki’s warmth stayed, though Tony could feel him in the back of his mind, rubbing against it to mark it like a cat.

“So. You want to watch a movie?”

 _…Yes._ Tony let Loki continue with whatever he was doing and felt Loki’s full attention return about half way through the movie when he began asking questions about references.

“It’s good to have you back,” Tony said.

 _It is,_ Loki agreed pridefully and Tony laughed.

___ _

As it turned out, the next morning was when Loki wanted to show him his physical form. Tony assured him that he was beautiful, but he didn’t feel Loki believe him until he was writhing beneath him, crying his name. After that Loki took his physical form so often that sometimes Tony had to tell him to stop teasing him and let him work, but he didn’t really mind. Finding that scepter had been one of the best things that’d ever happened to him.

**Author's Note:**

> ...And then Tony befriends Eddie Brock and their symbiotes argue about who has the better host while Eddie and Tony share french fries and tune their bickering out.


End file.
